“I knew you were brilliant.”

It scraped against every instinct in him, but Lucien left Makeda to train with Kato while he went to look for his mother. An hour of thinking aloud with Makeda was all he’d needed to formulate a plan that would cure their patients, prevent wholesale destruction—probably—and it might just straighten out the mess the immortal world was facing. In fact, it was Saba’s own bloody past that had been the key.

Saba was leaning on a rock near the coffee brazier, chatting with Hirut and chewing on a mefaka as the coffee roasted. She eyed Lucien as he sat down and stretched out his legs.

“Good. You got that out of your system,” she said. “Hopefully the girl will have more control now.”

“Salem, Hirut. Hello, Saba. And how are both of you this evening?”

Hirut laughed as Saba patted his cheek. “So shy, my son. Is your woman well?”

“She’s training with Kato right now.” He grabbed one of the chewing sticks from the small sack Saba carried at her waist and bit down. The mefaka was as effective as a toothbrush, and Lucien preferred them when he could get them. “You visited Arosh when you were traveling, did you not?”

“I did.”

“And Ziri?”

She glanced at him, then at Hirut. “Why do you ask?”

“What are you planning, Emaye?”

Saba leaned back against the rock and looked up at the stars. “Do you have a cure for Geber’s poison yet?”

“Yes.”

Saba and Hirut both stared at him.

“Truly?” Hirut asked. “Lucien, that is wonderful!”

“How long?” Saba demanded.

“It hasn’t been tested. Makeda and I have to finalize the trial protocol with the doctors in Ireland. That’s where we’re going to run the tests. But we think it will work. She’s nearly certain of it, and so am I.” He met his mother’s eyes. “It’s not a cure, Saba, it’s a treatment. And the immortal patients will need stem cell donors.”

“Offspring? Siblings? Mates?”

“No. So far, there’s only one sample we’ve tested that has the immunity needed to battle the virus.”

Lucien knew the second it registered. “Me?” Saba’s lip curled slightly. “What do you want me to do?”

“We want to try both peripheral stem cell donation and bone marrow and see if one is more effective than another. The peripheral stem cells can be collected from your blood, the others can be collected with a needle into your pelvis. It’ll be more painful, but you’ll hardly feel it. I can do the procedure right here on the island.”

“And that’s all?” She narrowed her eyes. “That’s not all. You’re changing their blood, aren’t you? Making their blood mimic mine.”

Hirut sucked in a breath.

“Yes,” Lucien said. “After the transplant, their amnis will align with yours. They’ll be earth vampires, and they’ll have a sire bond with you.”

Saba started muttering under her breath. “I don’t want more children.”

“It’s the only way to treat this. Once this cure is known—”

“You know why I want no more,” she scoffed. “Why do you bother asking this of me?”

Lucien paused. He needed to speak carefully. “Emaye, I know after Desta’s death—”

“You know nothing!” Saba screamed. “Nothing. You have no child. You want none.” Fat tears rolled down Saba’s cheeks. She didn’t wipe them away because she had no shame in her grief. The world had bled for it, and Lucien knew it hung on the brink of bleeding again.

Even after a thousand years, the pain of his sister’s loss was a raw wound. Many of Lucien’s siblings had found peace and walked into the dawn. Many had been lost in battle. Some had given in to despair. Each loss was a wound on his mother’s soul.

But nothing had been like Desta.

“I will have no more children,” Saba said. “This world will be cleansed, my son. We will start again.”

“No.” He grabbed her hand. “Emaye, listen to me. We can’t do this.”

“You need not have a part in it,” she said. “Arosh, Ziri, and I—”

“So Kato has already objected?” He jumped on the omission as he saw Hirut sneak away. “Kato wants no part in this?”

“He is still recovering,” she said, her eyes burning. “And I don’t need his support. I have made my allies. Those who have seen this sickness that spreads across oceans. It touched my own blood.” Saba put a hand on Lucien’s cheek. “What they did to you… I cannot forgive this.”

“Then don’t forgive it,” he said. “But don’t destroy it either. I am asking this of you. As your child. Too many will die. Too many will lose faith in our world. And the cost of human lives… Saba, you know there is a better way.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What do you want of me? You’re not only asking for my blood.”

Lucien took a steadying breath.

“I want you and Kato to overthrow the council of Athens.”

Lucien couldn’t read Kato’s expression, and he really wanted to. It was, after all, Kato’s own council Lucien wanted overthrown. Kato had started the council to transition his territory into a more “democratic” government when he decided to step down. It was the oldest council in the Mediterranean and Europe. The most venerated and, at one time, the most powerful.